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  • AlohaKeAkua
    AlohaKeAkua Posts: 92
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    i LOVE my FitBit!! I totally agree!
  • _SusieQ_
    _SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
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    For the record, I don't clean house. Therefore it is NOT part of my daily activity. I pick up, and then I pay someone to clean my house. Therefore on the rare occasions I DO clean house top to bottom, I sweat, my heart rate goes up and I burn some calories. OH and I'm fat, so these things require effort sometimes. I don't LOG these calories burned, but I do believe it's above and beyond my normal daily routine, even if it's not in the gym. Not everyone is the same, not everyone has the ability to work out in the gym. When I started out trying to make a better life for myself, I couldn't do 3 minutes on the elliptical.

    I understand the posts by the people saying not to log it, most of them are on my friends list, and are truly trying to help. However, I also believe that not everyone can understand coming from a place where taking a shower can wear you out some days. Thankfully I'm not that person anymore, but when you start at rock bottom, even spending an hour cleaning your house is something worth feeling good about.
  • fougamou
    fougamou Posts: 200 Member
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    As for logging it, I'd say go for it! Especially because cleaning an entire house because you're moving and packing isn't everyday stuff. As long as you feel like you're getting a bit of a workout and can feel your heart rate rising, log it. I think people that can exercise for an hour a day have forgotten that there are people that have trouble even walking around their house without breaking a sweat. Some people are in bad shape and need to start very small and slowly work their way up, and that's perfectly okay.

    But like I said, packing, moving, and cleaning an entire house isn't thrown into the daily burned calories MFP gives you, so I would log it.


    This.


    I think it is a mistake to conclude that because it is not "exercise" it is not burning any extra calories.

    I don't know about you but the last time I packed up a house it was physically exhausting. I must have burned way more calories, packing and moving boxes and cleaning than I have even burned in a gym.


    Yes, daily activities should be included in your TDEE calculation, so should not be logged. But the "extras" the things that you do not normally do, where you are well exceeding your normal activity level, should be logged. Even if it didn't happen in the gym.

    Just because it does not happen in a gym or doing a planned workout, does not make it a non calorie burner.
  • Iron_Duchess
    Iron_Duchess Posts: 429 Member
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    People please, telling someone not to log cleaning as exercise is not being rude but direct. It is prevention because latter on she will ask herself and the rest of the community why she is not losing weight. The worst part is that the same people that are telling her that “every little things counts” will pat her back and say; it’s OK, it must be that you are retaining water, or you are gaining muscle, or weight loss in not lineal, or don’t quit because you can do it… Just think about it, good and sound advice at the beginning will prevent many frustrations in the long run.
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member
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    Am I just seeing things wrong? I'm still working things out on this site.

    It seems to me that, for instance, if I do ten minutes on my elliptical trainer versus ten minutes on housework MFP puts the housework as more calories loss. But I sweat more doing the elliptical. Doesn't seem right to me. I'm confused by it. I mean if that is the case then I'll just do my housework lol.

    OK I'm going to try to explain this on a very very basic level.

    It doesn't matter if you are sedentary and cleaning puts you out of breath.

    Why? Because the ONLY person who should be logging cleaning as exercise is the person who joined MFP and prior to doing so NEVER CLEANED THEIR HOUSE on a regular basis.

    you are supposed to log any exercise you do OVER AND ABOVE what you do on a daily basis. Your purposeful burns. So...

    for example, if you decided to clean your house from top to bottom in a day, and you do that maybe twice a year, then wear your HRM and log it.

    but if you are a generally clean person and clean EVERY DAY, and not once a month, so you don't live in a sty, then it doesn't matter how much you sweat, burn calories, or get out of breath. That is a part of you daily expenditure burn. Your body expects that burn and your body knows it's going to happen.

    that is why you don't log cleaning, and the only reason it's in MFP is for those purposeful log days when you go over and above your daily expenditure.
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
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    oh dear. Here I go against the grain again....

    I think logging housework, if you have your default setting at "sedentary" and you are overweight, is good. I did it my first half year on MFP, eating 1200 + exercise cals, and my BMI went from 30 to 24 in that time.

    This was what made me decide to do it that way:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517

    ETA: I also ran a lot during that time. I agree with other posters who say that if you don't make any changes to your lifestyle, you can't expect any changes in your health. My main issue wasn't lack of exercise when I was obese, it was simply eating way too many calories. I ran regularly when I had a bmi of 30. When I joined MFP the big change was watching how much and what kinds of caloric density foods I ate, and balancing that with proper exercise.
  • CharliesInCharge
    CharliesInCharge Posts: 278 Member
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    this thread hurts my head
  • CharliesInCharge
    CharliesInCharge Posts: 278 Member
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    Am I just seeing things wrong? I'm still working things out on this site.

    It seems to me that, for instance, if I do ten minutes on my elliptical trainer versus ten minutes on housework MFP puts the housework as more calories loss. But I sweat more doing the elliptical. Doesn't seem right to me. I'm confused by it. I mean if that is the case then I'll just do my housework lol.

    OK I'm going to try to explain this on a very very basic level.

    It doesn't matter if you are sedentary and cleaning puts you out of breath.

    Why? Because the ONLY person who should be logging cleaning as exercise is the person who joined MFP and prior to doing so NEVER CLEANED THEIR HOUSE on a regular basis.

    you are supposed to log any exercise you do OVER AND ABOVE what you do on a daily basis. Your purposeful burns. So...

    for example, if you decided to clean your house from top to bottom in a day, and you do that maybe twice a year, then wear your HRM and log it.

    but if you are a generally clean person and clean EVERY DAY, and not once a month, so you don't live in a sty, then it doesn't matter how much you sweat, burn calories, or get out of breath. That is a part of you daily expenditure burn. Your body expects that burn and your body knows it's going to happen.

    that is why you don't log cleaning, and the only reason it's in MFP is for those purposeful log days when you go over and above your daily expenditure.

    + 1,000,000
  • porkchop_13
    porkchop_13 Posts: 122
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    Stop logging 10 minutes of housework. That's not exercise.

    This x10000
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
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    this thread hurts my head
    haha. i was just going to say I don't think your +10000 was meant for my post! haha.
  • zhvah18
    zhvah18 Posts: 158 Member
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    but if you are a generally clean person and clean EVERY DAY, and not once a month, so you don't live in a sty, then it doesn't matter how much you sweat, burn calories, or get out of breath. That is a part of you daily expenditure burn. Your body expects that burn and your body knows it's going to happen.


    to an extent I agree with what you're saying, but keeping the house picked up and cleaning to me are two different things. Things like washing dishes and sweeping, those are done daily and I would say it's keeping my house picked up, BUT things like dusting and scrubbing the toilet, that is cleaning and that's done once a week. I wouldn't consider when I'm CLEANING my house that one day a week part of my daily expenditure, do I log it? No, i just consider it "bonus", but I guess some could see a difference between cleaning and just keeping things tidy.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Stop logging 10 minutes of housework. That's not exercise.

    True! Unless you're down on your knees and hard at it all day !
    So many places I could go with that.

    funny I thought the same thing...

    Oh and I agree with the others about not logging cleaning as exercise....I consider cleaning a part of every day stuff that should already be in your TDEE/BMR....

    a great idea would be to hit some weights three times a week and throw in some cardio...THAT is exercise...
  • jenniferrusso7393
    jenniferrusso7393 Posts: 189 Member
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    Alrighty then-- stay at home mom rant here... Excuse me-- ahem... I put sendentary down as my activity level... I define housework as going up and down stairs multiple times, carrying full baskets of laundry, pushing/pulling a 10 lb vaccuum cleaner... Not a workout??? Get real folks!!!! It burns energy just as much as your little 30 minute slow walk around the block with your pooch that you diligently log every day...
    Not withstanding, I ran 3 miles every other day proir to joining, so my body expects THAT burn, yet I am allowed to log that? Y'all aren't making much sense here...
  • EdwarddeVere
    EdwarddeVere Posts: 178
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    Best option for you mate is to buy an HRM and never ask the forums for advice.
  • mfoy94
    mfoy94 Posts: 228 Member
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    Dont count things like housework as exercise. Problem solved.
  • cryswest57
    cryswest57 Posts: 141 Member
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    I burn calories when I clean so I put it down. I'm sure guys would put down when they do yard work lol. Plus, I noticed I have been losing more weight when I do active cleaning so I'm not sure what some are talking about.
  • CherokeeBabe
    CherokeeBabe Posts: 1,704 Member
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    Stop logging 10 minutes of housework. That's not exercise.

    True! Unless you're down on your knees and hard at it all day !
    So many places I could go with that.

    I thought the same thing :blushing: :laugh:
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
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    how's about we all agree that you can try to add it...and if that doesn't work for you, stop adding it. LOL.

    Cuz it did work as part of my larger goals. But anymore it doesn't. That's why I think, you know, if you're overweight it can be good. I think giving yourself credit for it, patting yourself on the back, and feeling posivibes that'll keep you rollin' is a good thing. And I wouldn't say I was messy before, but I would say that I began to enjoy the experience of cleaning the house a lot more when I got to log it.

    Of course now my goals are to go from 20% bf to 16% bf, and i could re-arrange my whole house but I don't go logging that as exercise. I would probbaly just say "well, that's some good assitance work!" LOL!
  • Mrc1974
    Mrc1974 Posts: 75 Member
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    Exercise is an activity requiring physical effort ...each to their own I say :wink:
  • Trilby16
    Trilby16 Posts: 707 Member
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    We are all logging our activity on the honor system. No one is monitering you or me. I know when I've done especially strenuous housework and I may put that in my log. Or not! The OP probably meant something more than putting dishes in the dishwasher. It is just common sense. Why are we fighting about this?

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